DES MOINES, Iowa – Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom and Iowa attorney Alan Ostergren, filed a motion requesting the district court to lift the injunction of Iowa’s fetal heartbeat bill that it issued in 2019.
“The historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe has given us a new hope and pathway forward to challenge the Iowa court’s previous decision,” Reynolds said. “Life and death are determined by a person’s heartbeat, and I believe that includes our unborn children. As long as I’m Governor, I will stand up for the sanctity of life and fight to protect the precious and innocent unborn lives.”
In 2018, the legislature passed and Reynolds signed a law outlawing abortion at six weeks, when the baby’s heartbeat can first be detected. A Polk County district court judge enjoined that law, prohibiting Iowa officials from enforcing it, based upon an Iowa Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling where the Court created a fundamental right to abortion. Because the Iowa Supreme Court recently overruled that ruling and rejected the “strict scrutiny” standard it adopted, Reynolds asked the district court to lift the injunction of the heartbeat law.
Iowa Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, accused Republicans of fighting “tooth and nail to ban abortions without exceptions.”
The ban in question did provide an exemption for medical emergencies. The law defined medical emergencies as “a situation in which an abortion is performed to preserve the life of the pregnant woman whose life is endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy, but not including psychological conditions, emotional conditions, familial conditions, or the woman’s age; or when continuation of the pregnancy will create a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
Wahls said Democrats are prepared to fight Republican attempts to ban abortions.
“We have an opportunity to stop this new, dangerous government mandate and protect our freedoms by voting for Iowa Democrats up and down the ballot this election. Democrats are going to keep fighting for the freedom to choose how and when to start a family,” he said in a released statement.
Read the filed motion below:
Motion-Brief-in-Support-of-Motion-to-Dissolve-Injunction
